Letting Go > Holding On

Matthew 6:9-12 “9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”

The greatest Threat to our Spiritual and Emotional freedom comes from our unwillingness to forgive others.

Maybe it will help to look at it this way. Over the course of our lives we run into people that whether intentionally or un-intentionally add emotional weight to our lives.

Some of the weight they add is minimal. They forget an appointment, they have a finder bender with your car, they forget to pay back a small loan…these things are annoying but not life altering. small rocks.

However the same people often can do things that are a little more offensive. They accidently share something shared in confidence, They constantly stand you up when you make plans…they forget to tell you something important which leads to a bit of embarrassment for you professionally or personally.

Again these are not incredibly offensive but the rise above the annoying category.

Then their are those that do great harm…they steal from you, tell lies, abuse you, talk down to you or make hurtful observations about your integrity, competence or value as a person.

If we do not forgive people for these things and we carry them around long enough eventually this collection of pain will overwhelm us to the point of Spiritual and emotional exhaustion.

Forgiveness of others is the Key to Spiritual and Emotional Freedom.

Drop the bag with force...

If we do not drop the weight of offence others have placed on us we will never be able to enjoy the relief of our own Forgiven-ness.

Jesus is instructing us in this truth

Matthew 6:12 “12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”

Jesus puts and exclamation point on this in several places.

Matthew 6:15 “15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 18:21–35 NLT

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! 23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Forgiveness is choosing to let go or release the right to retribution, anger or bitterness.

Holding on to our offence is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Identify and let go of offense that are keeping you from thriving in your life.

Prof. W.....

When I finally forgave Prof. W…I gained real control of my life. I no longer let a careless word shape any part of my thinking...

On the Day before we celebrated our Countries Freedom from oppression what if you and I can experience Spiritual and emotional freedom?

This is not letting others off the hook…it is actually giving ourselves life.

Freedom comes from Letting Go instead of Fighting offense from others.